GENERAL INFORMATION & HISTORY

The Hopkins Center, designed by Wallace Harrison, the architect of Lincoln Center and the United Nations Building in New York City, has served as the cultural hub of the Dartmouth College campus in Hanover, NH, since it first opened in November 1962. In 1988 the “Hop” was named by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of the nation’s exemplary performing arts centers.

Each year the Hop sells over 125,000 tickets to 100 or more live performances in virtually all genres of music, theater and dance, plus well over 200 film screenings and other events. The Hop also houses classrooms, studios and other facilities, as well as the offices of the Departments of Music, Theater, Film & Media Studies, and Studio Art.

The Hop offers a wide variety of co-curricular activities for arts majors and non-majors alike, and all Dartmouth students are eligible to participate on stage or behind the scenes. The Hop produces and presents the work of 8 professionally directed student music and dance ensembles. The Hop’s Student Workshops program provides well-equipped woodworking, jewelry and pottery studio facilities, and offers professional instruction from beginning to advanced levels.

Venues at the Hopkins Center include the 900-seat Spaulding Auditorium, the 480-seat Moore Theater, the Warner Bentley Theater, a flexible “black box” space with up to 180 seats, a small recital hall, plus rehearsal and practice rooms for music and drama. Art facilities include workshops, studios, and galleries.